This weekly blog will bring the major pharmaceutical and healthcare highlights. We all hate to move from blog to blog, post-to-post and website-to-website. Here, at Med-Ness we understand and value our reader’s time. Along with the major highlights, I will give you my opinion and my take for the week.
Med-Ness is for you if you are:
- An inquisitive scientist and want to stay abreast in all the fields
- Money minded and want to know business aspect
- Medical Writer
- Healthcare consultant
We will also focus on different sections each week. For example, next week will be the post-dated (or should I say, post-week?) section discussing the most coveted healthcare conference- JP Morgan 2017 (#JPM17)! Seriously, what is the fuss about this year’s conference? Never have I ever seen such hysteria about any conference! I hope one day my blog creates such a frenzy in the pharmaceutical field.
I will also brief you about the changing healthcare stocks and other market trends.
And how can I forget about political aspects? Did anybody say Trump’s take on Pharma industry? Where there is money, there is a political agenda. That is completely my take. Finally, I will bring in forefront any new policies or regulatory aspects that might or can affect the pharmaceutical business.
CNNMoney ranked healthcare stocks on number 2 position on their list, “5 stocks to buy in 2017”
So lets start with the simple and most commonly seen noun, “stock”. The dictionary spells out a very straightforward definition except; there is nothing simple about stocks. Moving on, stock is the capital that can be raised by any business firm when they issue and provide subscriptions for their shares. It basically defines and provides ownership rights to a company. So let’s say, you decide to buy stocks of a pharmaceutical company. With this stock you bought or rather own that part or percentage of the company. If the company makes profit or its net worth increases, so does the value of the stock increases. A Stock market aka equity market or share market enables such buying or selling of stocks.
- Have you ever wondered about stocks, investments and equity research?
- Have you ever thought of investing in healthcare market shares?
- Have you ever felt speechless in the presence of colleagues talking about market forecast?
The most important question to ask is what determines the trends in stock market? Why should or why shouldn’t you buy a particular stock. The key to this question lies in research known as “equity research”. Equity Research involves analysis and forecast of company’s financials. The whole agenda behind such an exploration is to recommend a particular stock to buy or sell.
“Money has transformed every watchdog, every independent authority. Medical doctors are increasingly gulled by the lobbying of pharmaceutical salesmen”
– Thomas Frank
If you want to follow a particular stock market yourself, you will have to observe and understand the stocks in order to predict their future worth. This might take weeks or even months. All you need to keep is patience! In addition, if you are an amateur in healthcare stocks, you might have to consider previous historical trends to determine the worth of a particular stock. To learn more about stock market, I recommend you all two insightful articles published Forbes.
www.forbes.com/sites/…/01/…/10-things-you-absolutely-need-to-know-about-stocks
www.forbes.com/…/how-to-spot-the-stock-markets-trend-before-it-is-obvious-to-all/
The variability in the stock market due to drug introduction or rejection.
A pharmaceutical company invests in the drug much before it is available to the patients. The drug stays in the pipeline stage for years. The reason- it has to pass all the safety tests before it reaches the patient. Now, the success or failure of the drug’s safety or its use will determine the worth of its stock. Sometimes, small biotech start-ups or pharmaceutical giants announce the research of a particular drug against a disease or condition. The requirement and the need for that research will determine its initial stock worth and successful launch of the drug and Phase IV post-marketing analysis will determine the rise or fall of the stock. According to “Investopedia”, orphan drugs (drugs for the treatment of rare diseases or conditions) are most expensive drugs in the USA. Such drugs will often bring more revenue and hence increased stock value.
The information on new drug launches could be obtained from company’s website or from The Wall Street Journal or from Businessweek. You can also keep a check on the drugs entering clinical trials (clinicaltrials.gov) to follow drugs from the company.
With this, we wrap up our very first post on Med-Ness. Let the medicine and business madness continue. Have a great weekend!
Imit pursued her Ph.D. from the University of Utah, and is currently pursuing her Postdoctoral fellowship at the Albert Einstein Medical College in Bronx, NY. She has an expertise in preclinical drug development and regulatory protocol development and analytical chemistry focussed on Oncology. Her current work explores the signaling pathways involved in hematopoiesis and leukemia stem cells. She is passionate about medical and science communication.
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